Name: The Other Merlin
ISBN: 9780593351024

Robyn Schneider

Channeling the modern humor of A Knight's Tale, bestselling author Robyn Schneider creates a Camelot that becomes the ultimate teen rom-com hotspot in this ultra-fresh take on the Arthurian legend. Welcome to the great kingdom of Camelot! Prince Arthur's a depressed botanist who would rather marry a library than a princess, Lancelot's been demoted to castle guard after a terrible lie, and Emry Merlin has arrived at the castle disguised as her twin brother since girls can't practice magic. Life at court is full of scandals, lies, and backstabbing courtiers, so what's a casually bisexual teen wizard masquerading as a boy to do? Other than fall for the handsome prince, stir up trouble with the foppish Lord Gawain, and offend the prissy Princess Guinevere. When the truth comes out with disastrous consequences, Emry has to decide whether she'll risk everything for the boy she loves, or give up her potential to become the greatest wizard Camelot has ever known.

The Other Merlin

Courtney Passio

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"Child, I'll be fine." She arched an eyebrow. "It's high time the women in this family did something more than get left behind while the men leave their mark on history." 

She was the only constant, the one piece of the family that had stayed the same while everything else changed with the years and the seasons: a girl who wanted to learn magic, and who felt there had to be more written in her stars than she could see from her narrow bed in her small village.

But now that she was miles from that bed, and from everything she he was her knew, the sky was no more clear on what she was supposed to do with her life, or how she was supposed to do it. Because the stars still looked the same from London, and her questions were all still there, and all just as unanswered.

"I'll have them back to you in a month," Emry said, and the boys' jaws dropped. "Joking. Give me a moment." 

Tatiana

The Other Merlin: 4.5/5

This book is one of my favorite reads from 2022 thus far! I binged 350+ pages in one afternoon because I couldn't stop reading it!!

The Other Merlin is an Arthurian retelling, but our main character is a wizard named Emry Merlin who trades places with her brother to become the prince's right-hand wizard. 

Schnieder's writing is so easy and effortless to fall into. I cannot remember the last time I binged a fantasy book in one day. The writing is witty, elegant, and breathes so much life into each character. Entering the world of Camelot was pure escapism. This book does everything well: every single character is great and I would go to war for them, awesome LGBTQIA+ representation, the setting is cool, magic is awesome, and the romance is one for the GODS. 

Absolutely LOVED this book and I recommend it to literally everyone!! STOP SLEEPING ON THIS BOOK! Also, I'm gonna need the sequel like... rn thanks.

Katy Watkins

Sophie 

This was so fun! It was everything I'd hoped it would be when I read the synopsis and I loved all the characters to death. The protagonist was witty and fierce, and the love interest was very charming. The King Arthur retelling meets ya contemporary romance of my dreams. 

Torrey

Pick this book up right now!

This is an adorable King Arthur/Merlin retelling. Now if you are purist this might not be for you, as the story is quite different from the original. However it is such a sweet book that was just so amazing to read. 

We follow Arther, obviously, and Emry Merlin. Emry's twin brother Emmett has been summoned instead of her to be an apprentice to become the court wizard. However when Emmett becomes indisposed, Emry decides to go in her brother's place and pretend to be him for a week until they can switch back. Emry, Arthur, and Lance are all such loveable characters and the relationship between them was so fun to read about. 

The love story is absolutely adorable. Emry is bisexual and while Arthur's sexuality is never explicitly discussed, when he realizes he is starting to have feelings for a guy, he accepts that. Lancelot is also gay, and there is hints for a relationship that will happen between him and another character from the original legends. I was worried about how the whole "disguising as a guy" thing would go, however it was written very well. I think the author handled things very well in the story as well. I do hope to see some genderqueer characters in the future books though.

The story is paced quite well. It is mostly told from the perspectives of Emry and Arthur, but there are chapters that are told from the perspectives of other characters. This creates a higher stakes feel to the story as the reader is aware of what other characters know, or think they know. I loved what this brought to book and the dynamics it created between the characters.

I liked the way the book built up to the cliffhanger. There were many hints and events that led up to what would happen. Maybe it's because I'm not super familiar with the original legend, but I loved the way the book ended and the implications of what is going to happen in the next book. 

Anyways now I will be going to binge all of Merlin on Netflix

Morgan Kinney

Pleasantly surprised. I was in between hold for audiobook and saw this available. I figured, "why not." I am so glad that I did. The plot is very interesting with the authorian legend with a spin. I am excited for where the story will go. 

Samantha Bass

Check out the full review on my blog We Write at Dawn!

To start off, I love when original stories/tales are gender bent. In this case, we have the children of the great wizard Merlin, Emry and Emmett - girl/boy twins who both possess the powers of their father, though it's clear that Emry is much strong than Emmett. 

Emry is such a great MC, but I loved getting the story through Arthur and Lance's POV as well. We get a few extra POVs here, including Emmett's, Gawain's, and even Guinevere's, but for the most part, this book is written through Emry and Arthur's POV. I loved getting to see this story from different angles and know what other characters are thinking and feeling. First person POVs are great for some books, but I am a total fan of third person in this story. It makes it so much better!

Overall, this was such a good book and it was so light and funny. I loved the set up for future books and I can't wait for more Arthur and Emry moments!! If you like genderbent Arthurian legend, lighthearted comedy, or friendships to die for then you should definitely check out this book. It's so good!

* I was sent a early copy to review. 

They had me at Arthurian retelling, that’s literally all I needed to know. 

This gender bent retelling of The Sword in the Stone was literally exactly what I needed right now! It was light, humor filled with an amazing amount of LGTBQ rep and was just so refreshing all the way around!

What *I* assumed when I heard this was a gender bent retelling was Merlin (one of my fav characters from the Disney version lol) was in fact, a female. HOWEVER, in this case, Merlin has twin children who take his last name, MERLIN. This retelling follows Emry, who has been left with no choice but to charade as her brother and learn to be castle Camelot’s court Wizard. In a world where woman are expected to do only so much, Emry has always dreamed of learning how to better her magic and to show the world that women can also do anything they desire to. 

The Other Merlin has made it to my top favorite of King Arthur retellings that I’ve read. I adored watching unlikely friendships being made and no one judged anyone for anything. It was super light hearted and funny at times and pulled together a lot of details from the original legend to make a newer, fresher and more progressive version on this story we all know! I will highly be anticipating the sequel to this story! 